Bartimaeus

This one is actually legitimately cute...but it's usually the darn eyes that freak me out more than anything else... Look at it! A truly terrifying creature, if there ever was one.

Flood and the Else seem to be the best albums I've listened to from them so far. Still going through them, though.

Went to a local Mexican restaurant for dinner. Was a sad affair. I've never spent $10 on nachos before today where you only get roughly a handful and a half of chips, and where cheese isn't included with the nachos. Last I heard, those are called "chips"...

Oh, I completely agree. I miss most of the electronic groups' I like earlier years, including VNV Nation's, Assemblage 23's, the Azoic's, etc. All of it seems to have gotten so much more...pop-ish, almost. Not much I can do about it, though. I still like it, however...but I wouldn't call it exactly great or perhaps even particularly good. I still think VNV Nation has a bit of a unique spark in it...but not as much as they used to, but I can barely listen to groups like Assemblage 23s' newer stuff. Probably also why I'm delving into other groups like They Might Be Giants...

https://soundcloud.com/assemblage-23/rise-preview-mix-surveillance New Assemblage 23 sideproject. The mixing seems kind of off, but I like it.

I can't help but agree with the OP...all this talk of "the same exact amount of utility as another class and the ability to play whatever class however you like" keeps making me think the classes won't end up being all that unique...I feel like, if you want to play a Mage, you should probably be playing a Mage. Similarly, if you want to be playing a Fighter, you should be a Fighter, NOT a Mage. I like the idea of giving each class the ability to somewhat simulate other classes' abilities to fill SOME other roles than "normal" to some extent - and that does assert there is generally a "normal" role(s) for each class...but I don't feel like every class should be able to do most things well if they just really want to. For that, I'd prefer a classless system where you could just develop characters however you please with absolutely no restraints from classes... i.e. I feel like a Fighter should definitely be able to invest in lockpicking and trap disabling...but I don't feel like they should be able to invest much in more magicky stuff. It's admittedly completely arbitrary from previous experience, but hey, I can have opinions, too, right?

Are you sure it's not just the news affecting you? Um...actually, I barely pay attention to news...so, uh, probably not. Someone sent me the Mesopotamians like a year ago and I didn't much care for it at the time. I felt a yearning to listen to it again recently, and now I'm slowly going through all of their albums...

I seem to be getting into They Might Be Giants...odd.

CD quality (lossless) for at least the music, I would hope, (not necessarily for use with the game itself, but somewhere...like on a CD soundtrack release). I don't really keep music that doesn't come in such...(for reasons not related to listening quality)

I, uh, I spent around $500-600 on my computer. It's been running strong for about 4 years now...though I do clean the entire thing about once every month, though I'm not sure if that actually makes a difference...

I often take this route in singleplayer first person shooters, (S.T.A.L.K.E.R., for example)...but I feel like it is probably not that great of an idea for an isometric tactical CRPG.

Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Audiosurf Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn Binding of Isaac Donkey Kong Country 2 Half-Life series Medieval 2: Total War Planescape: Torment S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZKhnlLqdT0 (edit) Hm. That was, uh, odd. Kind of like it, though...doesn't really remind me of their earlier stuff I've listened to, however...Honestly, I liked the upbeat piano / brass bit the most...

https://soundcloud.com/lowness/d-b-s-spread-your-wings Heard it on an album called "Feedback Loop". Pretty cool opening track.

"Top 10" *author lists five* I would make my own list, but I have difficulties equating my favorites from different artists.

Played Mario Party 3 on the N64 with two other friends and a computer today. The computer was extremely stupid, and passed up so many chances to get stars. One of my friends had 7 stars, and the other two of us had 4 each, and the computer had 2. On the last turn, when there was basically no hope of anyone but that friend with 7 stars winning, I ended up hitting a Chance block, which is where there's a chance somebody gives somebody else's a certain quantity of a certain item. I accidentally selected myself as the giver, and then selected the computer as the receiver, and finally, to top it all off, I accidentally selected all my stars to be given. The computer ended up winning two bonus stars and proceeded to beat us all. Most ridiculous game of Mario Party I've ever played.

Wait, what? You were talking about the IE games, not Dragon Age. I actually had the same problem in Dragon Age...but that's because I wouldn't turn off the AI because I absolutely hated controlling more than one character in that game, (third person / limited overhead views suck...). Player-defined actions were often overrode, yes, with the AI. But the IE games had the same problem...but the party AI was a little more definable, and party members were much more easily controllable if you wanted to turn it off completely. Since this game will have a true overhead view ala the Infinity Engine Games, I don't anticipate having any sort of AI enabled (for myself).

Nope, I'm sorry, I completely disagree. Dragon Age's combat was near unmanageable for me - no true overhead view, (hurray for limited range), which means you have to go with that awful "personal" third person view of characters. I couldn't make myself control anyone beyond my own character except for special circumstances. Can't stand having the camera jump around and having to keep swiveling it every time I want to do something... Yes, it does have convenience features, as you mentioned...but to say BG's combat was more unwieldy than DA's? Ehh...

I have no idea what you're talking about. Turn off or change your party AI, perhaps?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnTxccLOA7o

Off-topic, but...even though I've played through Baldur's Gate (2) roughly a million times, the Twisted Rune encounter is something I never, ever did or really knew about until about a year ago. I'd heard about it from various places - mod descriptions, forums, etc. - so many times over the years, but I'd never knew what it actually referenced to. Always assumed it was just a player-made name for something I always did. I always sell gems as soon as I get them, so I never opened that door on the Bridge district successfully. And since the door always casts...Disintegrate, is it? ...I always assumed it was supposed to just be a trapdoor for killing you. It's probably the only piece of Baldur's Gate content I'd never done up until then...I think it's quite amazing that I'd missed it that many times. I agree that these sort of things should be present for P:E.

Eye - This System (Will Eat Itself)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmPfwLPcF7A

Yes, that would be me. :D Happy to hear that you're enjoying them! I don't listen to Assemblage 23 as much as I used to, (read: not every second of every day )...though I listen to VNVN as much as I always have. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-oZyAKiWsc